Vampires and Leather Abound in These New ‘Underworld: Blood Wars’ Photos

I wonder if history will be kind to the Underworld and Resident Evilfranchises. On the one hand, these movies epitomize spectacle over substance, featuring attractive men and women — often dressed in skintight leather — shooting monsters in a Matrix-inspired slow motion that lags behind the current trend of modern action movies. On the other hand, they are two female-driven action franchises in an era desperately searching for female action stars. Kate Beckinsale and Milla Jovovich may not have the award season pedigree of some of their contemporaries, but they have been carrying two pulpy franchises on their backs for more than a decade. I’d like to see Cate Blanchett pull that off.

Unlike the Resident Evil franchise, though — which will wrap up with this January’s Resident Evil: The Final Chapter — the Underworld franchise seems to be chugging right along, with Beckinsale game to play vampire soldier Selene at least twice more in the years to come. In anticipation of the 2017 sequel Underworld: Blood Wars, Empirereleased a few new photos of Beckinsale in all her vampiric glory. A few of them found their way onto Twitter, but be sure to visit the Empire website for a few Beckinsale quotes on the new movie as well.

Here’s the full synopsis for Underworld: Blood Wars:

The next installment in the blockbuster franchise follows Vampire death dealer, Selene as she fends off brutal attacks from both the Lycan clan and the Vampire faction that betrayed her. With her only allies, David and his father Thomas, she must stop the eternal war between Lycans and Vampires, even if it means she has to make the ultimate sacrifice.

In addition to Beckinsale, Underworld: Blood Wars will include Theo James and Charles Dance. The film will hit theaters on January 6, 2017.